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2/9Despite the low ride height, the truck isn't airbagged; it runs conventional springs and shocks all around. "You just have to know how to drive 'em low," says owner Gary Coe. Ground clearance is exactly 5.5 inches-more than it looks.

The germ of this story sprouted when, in the pages of this very magazine, Editors Freiburger and Kinnan threw down big time in their coverage of the '09 SEMA show in Las Vegas. Eyeballing all the over-the-top show rods holding the carpeting in place on the convention floor, they issued a challenge. To paraphrase, it went something like this: OK, you can build them all shiny and pretty. Now let's see if you can actually make them go down the road. Let's see you do the '10 HOT ROD Power Tour(r) with those showboats.

Loyal reader Gary Coe out in Portland, Oregon, saw that story, and it set him to thinking. It so happens he owns an over-the-top show truck himself, the '57 Ford you see here, and while it wasn't at SEMA '09, it has won enough major trophies to fill up the half-ton cargo bed quite nicely. Since the show thing was getting a bit stale for Gary and he had always wanted to do the Power Tour(r) anyway, he decided to take up the editorial challenge and do the Long Haul(tm) with his truck, its first road trip of any distance. We should point out that Gary is no stranger to the performance side of the hot rod scene: He's the same Gary Coe who drove a series of Altereds, Funny Cars, and Pro Stockers in the '60s and '70s under the Gunfighter name.

Originally completed in 2006, the F157, as Gary calls it, was built by Steve Frisbie and crew at Steve's Auto Restoration in Portland. Chuck Barr, one of Steve's techs, and Gary go back more than 30 years, so he took care of the introductions. Dave Brost handled the design duties with input from Gary, who has a thing for the '57 to '60 body style, which hasn't received much attention in rodding circles. They made up for that with this project, as nearly every square inch of the truck's sheetmetal has been subtly reinvented, and the scratch-built chassis is an SAR production as well. The front suspension, including the rack-and-pinion steering, is composed of Heidts components, while a four-link supports the rear. The 4.6L engine, instrument cluster, and electronics came from a '96 Mustang Cobra-Gary's a Ford guy through and through.

3/9SAR fabricated an all-new panel to accommodate a '55 Olds-style padded dash with French stitching and a '96 Mustang Cobra instrument panel. Paul Reichen of Cedardale Upholstery in Mount Vernon, Oregon, performed the needlework.

Gary trailered the pickup from Portland to Newton, Iowa, for the '10 Power Tour(r) kickoff, then drove the full route that wove through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and eventually landed in Mobile, Alabama. Then he drove back to Newton to retrieve the trailer before heading home, so the actual roadwork performed by the F157 was more than 2,500 miles. Gary encountered only a few minor glitches along the way-the A/C wilted under the humidity as the Tour made its southern swing, for instance. Back home at the shop, Gary put the truck up on the lift for a full cleaning and inspection. Surprise: no serious damage or paint dings, only a ton of squished bugs and road grunge. "The truck had never been this dirty, needless to say," Gary says. "Eight buckets of water. Eight buckets of hot, soapy water. We had a blast."